This private venture will have the structural support of the independent team PH Sport and the financial backing of Red Bull, without which the initiative would have been extremely difficult to accomplish.
Sebastien Loeb, who last weekend achieved his 79th WRC victory at the Catalonian Rally, will have to fend off plenty of tough rivals at the Dakar. Perhaps the toughest of them all to beat will be the Mini team, counting amongst its ranks as it does with the defending champion ‘El Matador’ Sainz and the Frenchmen Stephane Peterhansel and Cyril Despres. But not only the fantastic three of the Mini X-Rais team could get Loeb into trouble, but also Nani Roma and his Mini 4×4 as well as Al Attiyah and DeVilliers on board their Toyota Hilux.
“There are many drivers with the chance to win (…) In the end, I couldn’t go with the 3008DKR Maxi (model that won Sainz the victory in 2018) due to the latest regulations, but maybe with a few small evolutions I will have an engine similar to that year’s“ he said.
The 44-year-old driver will have the support of his inseparable co-pilot Daniel Elena. This great duet of the World of Rally has already taken part in three editions of the Dakar but have never conquered the top of the podium. This time perhaps? The illustrious pair only managed a ninth position in 2016, they were second a year later and had to retire at the fifth stage in 2018 due to an injury endured by Elena after a frightening jump in this the most famous Rally in the world.
As Sebastien Loeb himself admitted, the decision to sign in to the Dakar 2019 was a last-minute one. After his team, decided to quit the Rally-Cross Championship, he had no other sporting options to continue racing and had resigned himself to never conquer the Dakar. But then circumstances changed and he has decided to go for it once again.
This will be the 41st edition of the Rally Dakar and will take place from the 6th to the 17th of January in Peru. Sebastion Loeb, who has never raced the Peugeot 3008DKR, 2017 model before will start tests in Decembre to try and get comfortable with the car before the start of the competition.
All and all, Loeb will be facing an extraordinary challenge. For the first time in history, the Dakar Rally will take place entirely in one country: Peru. The route will be approximately 5.000 kilometres long, 2.000 of which will be made up of roads and the rest of just sand dunes. The 3008 DKR has already proved to respond quite well in that kind of terrain.
“I like the dunes, but the key thing will be not to get stuck. This is what I will work on during my test (before the Dakar) and there will also be some work for Daniel too, as navigation in the dunes is really tricky. Explained the Alsatian champion.
Sebastien Loeb will have Harry Junt and Pierre Lachaume as team-mates, driving an identical vehicle for PH Sport. The independent team entered another Peugeot in the 2018 edition, that time with Khalid Al-Qassimi at the wheel, and finished in the sixth position. We wish them and all other participants the best of luck!
The statistics of the legendary Rally, unfortunately, are not very encouraging for Sebastien Loeb. To find the latest ‘independent’ winner we have to go back to the year 2000. It was then won by his fellow countryman with a ‘-Renault’ buggy, sealing the victory just ahead of Peterhansel.
Main image: Peugeot.
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